Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo is a 63-acre (25 ha) nonprofitzoo located in Tampa, Florida. In 2009, Lowry Park Zoo was voted the #1 Family Friendly Zoo in the US by Parents Magazine,[3] and is recognized by the State of Florida as the center for Florida wildlife conservation and biodiversity (HB 457).

Guests will find many interactive exhibits and opportunities to get closer to wildlife—feed a giraffe, hold a lorikeet, touch a stingray and more. The zoo’s Manatee and Aquatic Center expands the traditional boundaries of a zoo, focusing efforts on critical care for injured, sick and orphaned wild manatees. Also at the zoo, guests will find splash ground water play areas, wild rides, educational shows and several foodservice options.

The zoo is operated by the Lowry Park Zoological Society, an independent 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to providing exemplary programs in education, recreation, conservation and research to benefit the general public and to enhance the quality of life in Tampa Bay. The zoo also exists as a center for conservation of endangered wildlife both locally and around the globe.

During the middle 1950s, Mayor Nick Nuccio led the push to move the zoo to a more spacious location. Land further up the river near the neighborhood of Seminole Heights was chosen. The combination zoo and park was christened Lowry Park after General Sumter Loper Lowry, a local resident celebrated for civic contributions and his service in several wars, but vilified by some for his controversial political views.[4]

The old rainbow bridge to Fairyland, Lowry Park Zoo, c. 1980

Lowry Park Zoo opened in 1957. The zoo shared the park with Fairyland, where concrete statues depicting fairy tales and nursery rhymes were along a winding maze of paths beneath the limbs of sprawling oak trees. This whimsical area was accessible via a large rainbow bridge.[5]

As the wildlife collection grew, other attractions and rides were also added. By the early 1980s, the zoo featured a small roller coaster, a skyride, and a kid-sized train, among other kiddie rides. However, the zoo facilities were in need of repair and renovation, with the animals cramped concrete quarters so poor that the Humane Society called it “one of the worst zoos in America”.[6]

After several years of fundraising and with the help and support of mayor Bob Martinez and the city of Tampa, the original Lowry Park Zoo closed on September 7, 1987 for a $20 million reconstruction in which nearly all traces of the original zoo (including Fairyland) were removed and replaced with more modern facilities. The first phase of the revamped zoo opened in March 1988. Several additions and expansions since then have brought the zoo to its current configuration.[7][8]

The boardwalk is quite immersive, allowing the visitors to get up close to many of the exhibits. However, the old boardwalk was renovated back in 2013 and 2014 into a much more sleek look. It also includes a manatee education show, an aquatic center with sharks, eels, seahorses, and a wide collection of snakes, including Eastern Diamondback rattlesnakes, copperheads, and eastern coral snakes. Not only that, but it also provides a Discovery Center that highlights the amphibian residents of the zoo, showcasing various species of frogs, toads and other creatures.

The Wallaroo Station Children's Zoo re-opened on February 27, 2015 after its first renovation since opening in 2002. It is home to an array of Australian-native species including koalas, yellow-footed rock wallabies, Australian singing dogs and emus, along with a varying collection of cockatoo parrots, and flying fox bats.

This section of the zoo is home to an interactive bat habitat, a "Flying Bananas" ride, a budgie encounter and a family rollercoaster. It also has splash play area for younger kids titled "The Billabong".

The main free-flight aviary, accessible nearly at the entrance, is almost hidden in overgrown brush and plants, giving the feel of a wild experience. Inside, the whole area is covered head-to-toe in free-flight birds and waterfowl, including great hornbills, red-legged seriemas, toco toucans, scarlet ibises, white-faced whistling ducks, guineafowl, Raggiana Birds-of-paradise and an array of ducks and tanagers. Every so often, if you hang around, you can observe two-toed sloths lazily hanging in the trees.

This show, held twice a day at Zooventures Theater, is a fun and interactive experience that provides kids and adults alike with fun facts of birds of prey and what we can do to protect them. Some of the exhibited species include the Eurasian Eagle-Owl, the Bald Eagle and the Andean Condor.

The zoo hosts a hospital for Florida manatees in which injured animals are rehabilitated with the intent of returning them to the wild. It is the only non-profit hospital in the world specifically dedicated to critical care for injured, sick and orphaned wild manatees. The zoo works in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to rescue, rehabilitate and release Florida’s endangered manatees. In 2012, Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo was honored with a “Significant Achievement in North American Conservation Award” for its work with manatees, presented by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

Back in 2010, Lowry Park initiated what they called the 'New Horizons Capital Campaign', an endeavor to grow the zoo and provide more resources to help the sick and injured animals they rescue, along with an attempt to further educate visitors on the animals of the world. There were many proposed components to this campaign, some of which, like a new manatee research hospital, have already been accomplished. The mission also calls for an expansion on the African collection, hoping to introduce a pride of African lions into the Lowry family.

The Primate World area is also scheduled to be redone, as the campaign will provide funds to introduce bonobos and gorillas into the area, being one of the few zoos to have representatives of all four families of the great apes. However, the biggest achievement of this project will come in a brand-new area: Latin America. They plan to include various species that are symbolic to South America, including jaguars, giant anteaters, macaws and giant otters, growing the zoo into a nearly complete collection of creatures from every continent.

Starting with the Australia addition, Lowry Park Zoo has added several children's rides, including a merry go round, "Flying Bananas", and a mini rollercoaster called the Tasmanian Tiger Family Coaster.

Gator Falls, which opened in June 2008, is a log flume ride. It is the largest and most expensive ride in the zoo to date, costing US$1.5 million to build. The ride features a single 30-foot (9.1 m) drop, and the track carries riders over the park's Philippine crocodile exhibit.

In 2006, one of the zoo's two Sumatran tigers, a 14-year-old female named Enshala, slipped through an unlocked gate and into an area undergoing renovation. The zoo director, Lex Salisbury, defended his decision to shoot and kill the animal after attempts to tranquilize the tiger failed and the animal lurched towards the animal doctor that had shot the tranquilizer dart.[9][10]

Later in 2006, a group known as "Tampa's Zoo Advocates" formed. The organization seeks to improve the living conditions of the animals as well as working conditions of the employees of Lowry Park Zoo.

In April 2008, 15 patas monkeys escaped from Safari Wild, a for-profit animal attraction under development east of Tampa in rural Polk County.[11] This brought media attention to the venture, which is owned and operated by long-time Lowry Park Zoo director Lex Salisbury.[12]

Subsequent investigations revealed many questionable transactions between Safari Wild and Lowry Park Zoo, including the transfer of over 200 zoo animals to Safari Wild, zoo funds being used to build structures on Safari Wild property, and payments from the zoo to "board" animals at Safari Wild.[13][14] The city of Tampa, which provides a portion of the zoo's annual budget, demanded an audit detailing the relationship between Lowry Park, Salisbury, and his outside business ventures.[13]

The audit was released in December 2008 and disclosed many questionable dealing between the zoo and Safari Wild. It also uncovered violations of zoo policies by Salisbury, including increasing his own bonus payments, charging the zoo for personal travel, and using zoo employees for his personal work. Auditors estimated that Salisbury owed the zoo more than $200,000 and suggested a criminal investigation.[15][16][17] On December 19, 2008, Salisbury, under pressure from the zoo's board of directors and the city of Tampa, resigned from his position at the zoo.[16]

As a result of possible violations of animal transfer rules and species survival plans, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums suspended the membership of Lowry Park Zoo and of Larry Killmar, the zoo's Director of Collections who had authorized many of Salisbury's questionable animal transfers.[18] Under Killmar, the zoo reorganized its internal policies over several months, and on March 27, 2009, the AZA reinstated the membership of both Lowry Park Zoo and its director of collections.[19]

The saga came to a close in August 2009 when Salisbury and the Lowry Park Zoo board agreed to a settlement in which Salisbury paid $2,200 and agreed to return all the structures, fencing, and equipment that the zoo had built at Safari Wild but did not admit to any wrongdoing.[20]